Eugenie was born in Prague in 1920. In 1948, after the war, Eugenie emigrated to Sydney by ship where she met her Australian husband to be. Eugenie has always had a flair for languages and worked for many years in her own technical translation business close to the Port Kembla Steelworks. She now lives with her husband of 71 years in Canberra, close to her family.

Jarmila arrived in Australia in 1969, with her husband Frank and young daughter Dagmar. She and Frank decided to leave Czechoslovakia as a result of the Soviet Invasion in 1968, because they did not want to live and raise their family in such an oppressive environment. After Jarmila’s daughters had grown up and moved out of the family home, Jarmila and Frank moved to the south coast of NSW, and together they built a beautiful home near the ocean. They enjoyed many happy years here until Frank’s passing in 2008. In early 2017, Jarmila moved to Canberra, to be closer to her daughters and grandchildren.